Roma and Brazil goalkeeper heading to London in blow to Real Madrid

The Metro report that Chelsea are gearing up for the potential departure of Belgian number one Thibaut Courtois, with the goalkeeper having just one more year left on his contract at Stamford Bridge, the club are keeping their options open. The news is that Roma and Brazil’s Alisson is the man they would want to replace Courtois.

Spanish news source Marca state that Chelsea are the closest to matching Roma’s valuation of their number one which is around the €70 million mark, but Real Madrid are also monitoring the situation carefully and are likely to run the Blues to a close race to his signature.

The 25-year old keeper has started all three of Brazil’s World Cup games, keeping two clean sheets and conceding just the once against Switzerland. Impressive performances on the way to the Champions League semi-final and throughout the Serie A campaign has seen Alisson receive many plaudits and ultimately seen his stock rise high enough to attract the likes of Europe’s elite.

Chelsea have moved ahead in regards to willingness to meet Roma’s valuation due to the fact that, according to Marca, Real Madrid are reluctant to go beyond €40 million for the goalkeeper. Keylor Navas has his supporters at Madrid so whether or not their new manager Julen Lopetegui gets the funds approved for Alisson is currently looking unlikely – the report indeed state that the ‘Spanish club are very distant with Roma’.

Fuel was added to the transfer rumours swirling around the Brazil number one earlier in the week when Roma’s sporting director Monchi perhaps hinted (in quotes carried in the Metro) it could be a matter of time before he departs the Italian capital;

“There’s no such thing anywhere in the world as an unsellable player.”

“The perfect answer would be to say that he’s unsellable, but I can’t say that because such a player doesn’t exist.”